


Sun Drops and Starlight

by hirohamadugh



Category: Shall We Date?: Obey Me!
Genre: Belphegor singing an Enchanted Lullaby, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, MC is my OC!, MC misses the sun, Not Beta Read, Other, Rated T for language, belphegor is a sweetheart trying to make up for everything and be their friend, happens AFTER lesson 16!!, helping fall asleep, no sexual implications, playing with hair, she/they pronouns for my OC!, so i tagged both!, usually strong character crying trope
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-24
Updated: 2020-06-24
Packaged: 2021-03-03 20:46:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,370
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24891805
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hirohamadugh/pseuds/hirohamadugh
Summary: Belphegor can feel that the only human in the House of Lamentation is having trouble falling asleep, and seeks them out to see if he can help.
Relationships: Belphegor (Shall We Date?: Obey Me!)/Original Character(s), Belphegor/Main Character (Shall We Date?: Obey Me!)
Comments: 6
Kudos: 69





	Sun Drops and Starlight

**Author's Note:**

> hello! thank you for taking interest in my work! this is a story that can be read on its own completely fine, but will make most sense following the rewrite I did of lessons 4 to 16 in my other OM work called 'Like a Starfish'! I didn't change too much though, just tried to make it make a little more sense in why he does a complete 180 after the events of lesson 16, so it's definitely not necessary but will just provide a fuller experience should you wish to do so! hope you enjoy!!  
> also more info on the MC OC in this fic, Parker, can be found here: https://twitter.com/goodcrowmens/status/1272944232689475589?s=20

Part of being the Avatar of Sloth meant being burdened with the knowledge of how everyone in your vicinity was sleeping. Hearing them all, every _single_ time night rolled around and the rest of the world retreated to their beds to sleep. But tonight, it wasn’t the whisperings of dreams starting to bubble and erupt from his brothers’ subconscious that was plaguing Belphegor’s mind the most: it was the one who _wasn’t_ sleeping. Or rather, the one that was trying, but couldn’t get themselves at peace enough to let their own body and mind rest.

He recognized the signature all too well; each trace of consciousness in his awareness was unique, and therefore he’d come to learn to identify every one of them simply by exposure alone. The demon’s thumb slowed to a stop from scrolling on the Akuzon page he’d had open, where he’d been just mindlessly and virtually window-shopping in attempt to put off his RAD work. Even though his D.D.D. screen was the only thing lighting up the room, and he _knew_ the trace not to be his twin brother’s, Belphegor cast a glance across their bedroom and saw exactly what he should have- his buff redhaired glutton of a twin piled in a heap on his own bed, snoring and slobbering contentedly all over his pillows. He allowed his phone’s screen to fade to black, and didn’t bother to unlock it again as he sat up, more focused now on the anguish that he could feel on the cusp of his mind. Realistically it was just barely there, but to him, the noise was absolutely deafening.

Some part of him, far far down beyond his conscious thought, found irony in it. After all, this was the very first way he’d ever even been made aware of their existence: way back then, back when he had excitedly listened in on their struggles to sleep in a bloodthirsty and predatory manner, trying to lure her up to his prison so he could use her and dispose of her. Now, knowing that they were troubled to having a fitful and fruitless attempt to rest brought him nothing but a heavy heart.

He heard it again. The sorrowful and hollow heartache that rang and reverberated in his ears before vanishing completely- Parker had given up on trying to sleep, which meant he was no longer tuned in to their emotions, cut off from his contact. And it suddenly worried him. Worried him so greatly, that before he even truthfully knew what he was doing, the demon found himself on his feet and bunching up the soft throw blanket that lie on the bed into a ball, before swiftly tucking it under his arm. His brow was knit in determination behind his fringe as he snagged his beloved cow-patterned pillow as well, before quietly letting himself out of his bedroom as so not to wake Beelzebub. He was the Avatar of Sloth, dammit. If anyone could help them fall asleep, certainly it was him.

Plus, if he were being completely honest with himself now, as opposed to shoving every single emotion he felt into a box labeled **HATE** and calling it a day, he really did want to be there for them. From the beginning, Parker had always been coming to him. Always going out of their way to see him, to spend time with him, back before _that_ all went down. Back when he was in the attic. Now, he wanted more than anything to get back what they could have always had, to keep that hope of remedying all of his wrongs and replacing them with moments of being there for her instead. It was time for him to return the favor, for him to help combat _their_ loneliness, just like they stupidly and stubbornly did over and over even when he gave them no reason to ever come back.

Belphegor crossed the quiet hall and passed two bedroom doors before reaching the one he was looking for, the guest room. He gently placed his free hand on the door and pressed his ear flush against it, listening for any signs of Parker’s inhabitance before he knocked. There was not so much as a peep coming from the room, though, and a stolen glance down at the bottom of the frame showed no light seeping out from underneath it. She wasn’t here.

Scowling to himself, Belphegor realized he must’ve been too slow to catch them here. Too second-guessing. He should have been quicker to come to their aid, he should have committed to the idea the moment he heard their pained attempt at sleep in his peripherals. His hand slid down the wood before falling to his side and crumpling into a fist, and he backed off from the door, pivoting and turning with haste towards the kitchen, the blanket dragging a little on the carpet behind him. If he wasn’t punctual, he’d just have to be _better,_ then. Throwing the blanket heap and pillow onto the granite island’s surface, Belphegor crossed over to the cupboard and hoisted himself up onto the countertop, grunting softly as his knees hit the edge. He clicked on the electric kettle and rose to a kneel, throwing open the cabinets and taking gentle care as he rifled through the assorted cups and glasses, the clinking of ceramic and glass and plastic against each other amplified tenfold in the dead quiet of night. Usually he was content with whatever was at arm’s length when it came to drinkware, but tonight he was determined to pull out the big guns: his all-time favorite mug. It was way up tucked away on the top shelf (saved for special occasions like human world hot chocolate on his and Beel’s birthday), so he had to do some blind grasping before his fingers sought purchase on the wobbly and oddly-shaped handle.

Belphegor smiled at it when he pulled it off the shelf and into his line of view: it was, predictably, a cow mug, but it had little excess ceramic molded for a chibi face directly across from the handle, and little feet at the bottom of it, and was hand-wash only, so you knew it was special. The handle itself was a cartoonish tail that reminded him practically nothing of his own, as it was still white and black up until the little tuft where it connected back to the basin of the mug. He blew on it, realizing it had collected a thin film of dust in its lack of use, before carefully hopping down from the ledge and giving it a proper wash so it was ready and clean. He toweled off the outside and inside to make sure it was free of suds and wasn’t slippery to carry, and out of the corner of his eye he saw steam rising from the kettle, denoting the water was up to temperature. Cursing quietly under his breath, Belphegor ripped open the drawer that Lucifer and Satan kept all their assortments of teas in, and plucked out an earl grey teabag before shoving the drawer shut on its ricochet, tearing open the package with his teeth and dropping it into the mug with a soft _plunk_. He fixed the little tag and string so it hung over the side of the mug with one hand as he grabbed the kettle off of its stand with the other, and was careful not to slosh the hot water when he poured it in. The demon gingerly returned the hot machine back to its stand and shut it off since he’d gotten all the water he needed, and grabbed the honey and a splash of creamer, adding those to the mix once the tea had steeped a little- albeit, a tad too quick, since he didn’t want to leave Parker all by themselves for another single minute. So, he left the bag in even after adding the creamer, since he’d been hasty and impatient.

Tossing the blanket to cascade over his shoulder, the sloth demon shoved his beloved pillow under his left arm and meticulously picked up the warm drink with his right hand, very careful not to spill as he shut off the kitchen lights and began to roam in search of the only human that lived within it. “If I were Parker…” he mumbled his thoughts aloud to himself, lips barely parting to let the words out. It’s not like he and them were strangers to each other: in fact, recently he’d begun to find himself starting to dare to dream they could one day be good friends. He genuinely liked them, a lot, and vowed to himself a few weeks ago when they’d first talked to him again after the incident that he’d do anything he could to try and fix what his past behavior had broken between the two of them. He racked his mind for any clues she may have mentioned during one of those stolen away days up in the attic talking through the grate: did she ever mention having a go-to hangout spot in the house? Did she ever bring it up?

_“Beel told me you love the stars,” she had whispered to him, wrongfully assuming he was asleep when he was just, in fact, ignoring them. They only had the courage to say such honest and not-sarcastic things when he was asleep anyways, and although he’d never admit it at the time, maybe that did in fact play a role in why he pretended to be napping sometimes even when he wasn’t. “I’m… Sorry that you don’t really get to see them that much stuck in here. The planetarium is really beautiful, I’m sure you miss it a lot.” There was a pause, and she was probably hesitating, because her next words were quiet, timid almost: “we should go sometime, after you’re out. I’m sure you know about a lot of constellations, hm?”_

Closing his eyes briefly, Belphegor turned his head upwards towards the patterned ceiling of the atrium, as if doing so would answer his questions of Parker’s whereabouts. He didn’t have any other leads, and he knew that’s exactly where he personally runs off to whenever the going gets tough, so he hustled up the main stairs and crossed the atrium overlook as quickly as he could without spilling the contents of the open drink he had in hand. Reaching the base of the stairwell leading up to the glass domed room, he confirmed his suspicions in the absolutely most nauseating way possible: through hearing quiet, choked sobs. His chest cavity felt as if it weighed 4 tons in how hard it ached, because while hearing someone you care about crying is always heart-wrenching, this was _Parker_ we’re talking about here. Strong, stubborn, crass, middle-finger-equipped Parker. The human who never so much as flinched at his misguided physical threats, who always stood up to the challenge. Crying. Audibly, and alone.

Belphegor swallowed the lump that had emerged in his throat and started up the stairs silently and slowly, not wanting to startle them by barging in on the private moment. When he reached the top of them he saw her: poor, openly distressed Parker, curled up into a ball sitting on the floor with their back to him. He kicked his heel against the frame of the staircase softly, bringing attention to himself immediately as he didn’t care to let them be lonely for a single second longer, and cleared his throat, although his voice still came out awkwardly hoarse. “Having trouble sleeping…?” Their head snapped up and glossy blue eyes met his in downright horror, before Parker shoved the heels of their hands roughly into them in attempt to hurriedly rid themselves of any evidence of the tears. They sniveled and roughly wiped their nose on their sleeve as he stepped into the room a little more, cautiously bridging the distance between them. “I could feel it, uh, as the Avatar of sleeping and all- I-I mean Sloth! Avatar of Sloth, not sleeping, I…!” Belphegor chuckled nervously, a dry swallow bringing his scratchy throat to his own attention as he fumbled the recovery as he crouched beside her, even if it was a generous few feet away. “I made you tea…! Something warm to drink to calm you down, i-it always helps me!” God, could he get a sentence out straight? I mean what was up with him, he hardly ever jumbled his words this badly or awkwardly! Belphegor forcefully extended his arm, presenting the moo-g to Parker, but they didn’t take it. Instead, they raised an eyebrow and sniffled, verbally silent yet blatantly questioning of his out of place behavior. Belphegor flared his nostrils, before shaking his head slightly, understanding why she hadn’t immediately accepted. “Look, I promise it’s safe,” he reasoned, and it was understandable why she might be looking for that clarification. He even rose the mug to his lips and took an audible slurp to prove he was drinking it, that certainly it was clean of any mal intent before offering it out to her again. This time, she was quick to envelop the ceramic drinkware in her hands, their fingers brushing in the transition and seemingly lighting Belphegor’s on fire. He beamed, though, because as they hugged the warm mug close to their chest and looked up at the stars, he swore he saw the tiniest hint of a crooked smile on their lips, and that made everything he’d done to this point all worth it.

“I didn’t mean to bother you,” the words were gravelly as they croaked out of Parker’s mouth, uneven and interrupted by a sporadic heave as she shifted the mug to just her right hand and wiped her nose on her sweater sleeve again with her left.

Belphegor placed the pillow down behind their back and let the blanket pool on the floor as he dropped to his knees from the crouch, creeping a few inches closer to the human in doing so. “It’s not a bother,” he insisted, and for once had honesty and care laden in his voice. It was so… Foreign, since it had been so long since he’d been able to show this side of himself with someone who wasn’t his twin brother. It probably hadn’t even been since…

… It had been a while. We’ll say that.

“Not to me, at least. And you? Do you have something bothering you…?”

Parker turned their face towards him and flashed a smile, but it was empty, forced, and fleeting, as she quickly narrowed her focus on the brown drink in her hands instead, clearing her throat. “It’s stupid,” she attempted to reassure, anxiously tucking a loose strand of black hair that hadn’t made it into her bun behind her ear and darting her eyes over at a random stack of scrolls cluttering the nearby wall. It hurt, to see her like this, so blatantly uncomfortable in her own emotions and immediately trying to hide them away all to herself. Belphegor’s fingers twitched with the desire to reach out, but he was afraid of overstepping any boundaries and still unsure of how comfortable she was around him, so he curled them in on themselves briefly and bit his lower lip.

“It’s not stupid if it’s bothering you,” he reasoned, splaying his hand on the tile to lean forward a little towards them and still maintain his balance. “What’s wrong?”

The human pressed their lips into a thin line as they met the sloth demon’s eyes for the longest bout of eye contact they’d had tonight: three whole seconds. She let out a sharp puff of an exhale that was trapped in her chest and gripped the cow mug with both hands, fiddling with the teabag’s tag with her pointer finger as she brought it to her lips and took a hearty sip. It really was soothing to feel the warmth go through her neck and chest, and stupidly, embarrassingly, Belphie couldn’t help but feel a warmth of his own rise to his cheeks and ears, because _ooOoOOoo indirect kiss!!!1!1!_ He shook away the thought as quickly as it had come, but the blush lingered. “It’s nothing,” she lied through her teeth, staring at her sock absently, trying to keep him from seeing the tears that were still welling in the corners of her eyes. “I-I’m just hanging up here.”

“Hey.” Belphegor interrupted, dropping to the side so he was sitting next to her now, and leaned his forearms forward onto his knees as he faced her, his hair falling into his eyes a little more than usual. “You know I won’t think of you any less just because you’re vulnerable, right?” He took a deeper inhale than he’d meant to, and choked on the air for a half second before continuing. “It’s okay, Parker. To have these moments, I mean, you don’t have to have them alone, you don’t have to keep it all to yourself. I swear I won’t treat you any differently than the annoying brat you always are.” His words and his tone conveyed two very different messages, and brought some levity to the situation; they’d recently begun to regain the teasing aspect of their relationship with each other, and Parker must have been just as thrilled about it as he was, because that brat comment earned him a shaky laugh and a half-assed shove. He chuckled and swayed to regain his balance and even shouldered her back, before shaking his head and brushing some hair out of his eyes. “You didn’t think any less of me when you saw what a fuckin’ mess I was a few weeks ago, hmm? The same goes for you, y’know. It’s not one-way.”

His fingers itched to reach out again as he saw her crooked and timid smile pointed at him for a just a millisecond, before she took another long sip of the tea. Parker then silently folded their legs like a pretzel in front of them, allowing their arms to fall limp as they lowered the beverage to their lap with an audible sigh. “It’s the sun,” she hoarsely whisper-spoke, voice still broken on unbidden sobs.

Belphegor shifted in his confusion, moving so he was more facing her properly. He raised an eyebrow out of instinct, having no concept yet of what she possibly could have meant by that. “What’s the sun…?”

Parker looked up at him- genuinely met his eyes this time and kept it. Hers were shiny and swollen, with twinges of pink hues overtaking her scleras from the tears. It broke his heart to see, yet he couldn’t even dare think to look away. “I miss the sun,” she confessed over a forced smile, lip quivering in threat to make her break down again from confessing to it aloud. “I… L-Like I said, it’s stupid.” They breathily forced out a laugh, the pained smile crinkling the corners of their eyes and squeezing out a few tears, which made a mad dash down their cheek before being caught by their sweater paws. “I-It’s just so dark all the time. I miss n-natural light, just being able to open your curtains and have t-the room lit up for you, or to just walk outside after school and still have the whole afternoon waiting for you before sunset, or knowing when a storm was coming because things got grey, I m-miss the beach, _god_ I miss the beach, you know I grew up and still lived in a shoreside town before coming down here, so I n-never even r-realized how much I really d-did enjoy looking at the w-waves with the sun beating down on you an the r-reflection from the s-sand nearly blinding and-” They babbled on until they broke, putting the mug down in front of them hastily and shoving their face hidden in their hands as a second round of sobs came forth. Belphegor’s eyes softened more and more the longer they’d gone on, and he couldn’t help but scoot closer, gripping his knees with white knuckles in attempt to not make them even more uncomfortable than they already were by putting them through unwanted physical contact.

He shook his head, even though she wasn’t looking his way. “I really liked beach days too, back when I would sneak off to the human world,” Belphie blurted the words out bluntly, but they got her attention, as Parker peeked up and held back any further choked cries out of interest. The demon smiled softly, giving a tiny nod now that he saw he had their attention. “I did,” he reaffirmed, grin turning toothy and wide in reassurance. “I mean, you can sleep all day, in public nonetheless! And no one will even so much as bat an eye! And listening to the waves crashing is great white noise to snooze to, plus the sand beneath your towel is all nice and warm and inviting, you just can’t beat it. It really is the best, and the Devildom beaches just don’t compare, so I don’t blame you at all for missing them…!”

Parker sniveled heavily, staring over at the demon beside her in wonder, as a few months ago they would have _never_ expected Belphegor of all demons to be empathetic towards missing the human realm. They were quiet for a moment, and a period of silence passed between them as they just stared at one another, before the human nodded and wiped their eyes. “Thank you,” she whispered, pressing her lips together in a quivering, but more genuine, smile. “I-I’m sorry, I-I just… I don’t really like to cry in front of my friends usually, I-”

They could have ended that sentence with ‘went to the zoo and ate a zebra’, and Belphegor wouldn’t have noticed. His blood felt as if it had drained from his face and hands and body all at once, muscles frozen and mind racing 200 miles per minute, repeating that word she just said over and over and over until it suffocated him. “Friends…?” _We’re friends now?_ Is what he wanted to ask, but was too deathly afraid that he read that wrong and she had just slipped up and didn’t mean it and was still wary of every move he made and didn’t want to be around hi-

Parker laughed, and I mean actually laughed, which snapped him out of his buzzing. “Belphie, y’don’t just come comfort an _acquaintance_ in the middle of the night with tea and blankets and words of reassurance,” they leaned their head against his shoulder and it took absolutely everything in the demon to not let out the choked ecstatic noise that rippled in his chest. Seeing as clearly it would not be overstepping, and they really did genuinely think of him as an actual friend, he finally allowed his hand to give in to that temptation of reaching out and wrapped it around to the small of the human’s back, rubbing it softly in comfort. “Thank you,” they whispered again, and took the liberty in burrowing their face against his navy blue hoodie to wipe away the residual tears. He said nothing, and a comfortable silence settled over the two of them as he just held them quietly for a while, allowing them to recover as much as they pleased before having to speak again. Holding them like this… It felt warm. It felt safe. He could only hope that she shared the sentiment, and was feeling it too.

Parker’s emotional strife had clearly taken a physical toll on them, because after a minute or so of silence they began to shiver in Belphegor’s arms. “Shhh,” he soothed, hardly audible and whispered just above the shell of their ear as he reached behind them and snagged the bunched up blanket off of the ground, bundling the human up in it tenderly before smiling at his work. Parker’s face was red from embarrassment, but that just made the sight of them all swaddled up even more charming in the demon’s eyes, and he even let out a quiet chuckle and tasteful tease in poking their nose to taunt. The human scowled at him in return, but the threat of it was empty, and only made Belphegor laugh harder as he untangled them from each other and lifted himself to his knees. “C’mon, now,” he spoke, breaking the silence and holding out his arms. “Let’s try and get you back to bed, it’s late.”

 ** _Very_** much to his surprise, Parker allowed him to pick them up and carry them across the house back downstairs to their bedroom for the year. Perhaps it was because they were too exhausted to fight it, or that they were used to being scooped up by Belphegor from him recently starting to throw their smaller body over his shoulder in a time-out of sorts whenever their wit outmatched his own and he had no smart reply to their remarks. Either way, they were clinging to his torso like a koala now, with the blanket still draped over their shoulders and pillow wedged between the two of their chests as he hoisted them by their thighs. They had left the mug up in the planetarium, but that didn’t matter. What was important was that they weren’t crying, and they were comfortable.

“I still don’t know that I’ll be able to sleep,” they confessed, almost timidly in fear that it would seem like all his efforts were for nothing. However, he just shifted his grip on their legs so that they leaned back away from his body a little, and gave her a twisted grin.

“Quite frankly, I’m offended that you think a demon like myself doesn’t have any tricks up his sleeve. This is my _job_ , you know.” And she laughed and rolled her eyes, something he’d come to realize he found endearing, as strange as it was. But then again, _they_ were strange, and that’s a big part of why he liked them in the first place.

Parker helped him out by reaching out with their hand to open the bedroom door once they arrived in front of it, so he didn’t have to try and juggle carrying them and fiddling with the knob at the same time. Belphegor kicked the door open and then shut again behind the two of them once he stepped inside, hearing it latch shut with a satisfactory click. He all but dropped the human unceremoniously onto their bed, which earned him a squeak and gasp as she immediately swatted in his direction as payback. Belphegor snickered to himself and leapt away and out of reach before the smack could reach its mark, quick to wipe his hands on his pants nervously as his mind started to catch up with itself and realize all that had transpired. He was sheepish, suddenly; he never expected things to have played out the way they did, and was shy about realizing what he had alluded and knew he agreed to on the way down here. I mean, he hadn’t used these specific powers in _eons_ , who’s to say they were even still functional? Who was to say they wouldn’t just laugh in his face, that he wasn’t just making a huge fool out of himself and shouldn’t just go, right now?

But just then, they drew him back in. Parker stretched, wiping their eyes once more for good measure even though the tears were long gone, and Belphegor’s gaze was fixed on them, almost trance-like. Then, they did the unthinkable: in an almost fluid motion, as if time slowed down, Parker reached up and tugged on the hair elastic that kept their bun in place, pulling it out and letting their wavy black hair fall across their shoulders. The demon blinked, then blinked again as she made no effort to tie it back up, because Parker _never, **ever**_ wore their hair down. Not even part of it, in a half-up half-down hairstyle, no, it was _always_ tied up in either a ponytail or a bun, and they just looked so _different_ without it up that he was admittedly a bit shocked at seeing them like this. The demon cleared his throat awkwardly, snapping out of his surprised daze as she snaked her legs under the comforter, lying down in the bed with a shuttered exhale. He stepped forward again and wormed his way onto it beside her, sitting upright by the pillows as they stared up at him. “So, you claim to have super secret voodoo, Mr. Sloth Man?” Parker grinned as they waggled their fingers tauntingly up at him and Belphegor reached behind himself and snatched one of their pillows, throwing it over their face to smother as a threat since he was too embarrassed to have a comeback.

“Less being a little piece of shit, more settling in for sleep,” he demanded amidst Parker’s snickers and shoving of the pillow off of their face, nestling in on their side and facing away from him as they took a deep breath to calm down.

“Fine, fine,” she muttered, a smile still tracing on her lips. “It’s… A little better, at least.” Their voice had grown serious and unsure, as if they were nervous to confess this aloud. “It’s not as overwhelming now that I’m not alone… Did…” The human peeked up at the demon sitting over them, already-splotchy-from-crying cheeks flaring a bright red in embarrassment. “Did I ever tell you that I’m scared of the dark…? Er. Being… alone in the dark, rather.”

Belphegor huffed out a tiny laugh, narrowing his eyes as he leered forward a bit more, reaching out and brushing a lock of free and loose hair back behind her ear. “And being alone in the dark _with a literal demon_ brings you comfort instead…?” Selfishly, his heartrate quickened out of excitement within his chest as he felt Parker lean their face into the touch as he spoke, and he took that as an invitation to begin running both his hands through it, gently working out any knots while being mindful not to tug too much.

They scoffed and he could see the outline of what looked very much like a middle finger being held up in his direction, but Belphegor blissfully chose to ignore it, just chuckling to himself at her headstrong-as-always behavior. He could feel their head sinking deeper into the pillow as they became more relaxed, a comfortable quiet spell emerging as they were lulled into shutting their eyes and nestling into the bedding, facing away from him with the comforter pulled up to their chin. Seeing as she didn’t plan on continuing the conversation any further, Belphegor took that as his cue to pull out the ace up his sleeve that he’d promised, and took a hearty gulp to swallow his pride. He softly let his fingers skim over the wispy hair that inhabited the human’s hairline, then plunged them into the depths of her dark hair’s length once more as his eyelids fluttered closed in concentration, feeling the dark powers of his cardinal sin begin to burn in his veins. Oh, they still worked alright. With a haughty, but barely audible clear of his throat, he started his Temptation.

He began to sing Parker a lullaby.

_“Oh, how weary and troubled you are,”_

_“Oh, don’t you care to rest your head a short while?”_

The words were in a deadened language, long lost to humankind, but still effective over them even if they couldn’t understand it. His torso began to glow a royal purple as the velvety notes left his lips, and it spread, encompassing his biceps, then forearms, then hands that still carded through Parker’s hair in a fantastical aura of Sloth.

_“My dear, sweet mortal, your time is so short,”_

_“My lovely, small human, won’t you let yourself sleep?”_

His singing voice was deeper than his conversational one, a primal and alluring sense within it much akin to the human world myths of sirens. The lullaby was an old one, a song he’d once created himself in a vengeance right after the celestial war, originally intended to be used at a much stronger degree to where the human was trapped asleep forever and died a slow and agonizing death of dehydration. A complete trap, sickeningly sweet, supposed to be laden with hidden and vicious mal intent. And now here he was, singing it to a human he’d grown to very much to care about, in attempt to coddle them back to bed.

What a fickle thing time was.

_“You’re so tired, so dreary, I see the stars in your eyes,”_

Belphegor allowed his own to peek open, and couldn’t help but smile down upon what he saw. Parker’s lips were parted slightly in beatitude, their entire face slack and unencumbered from the sound of his voice. Their chest’s rising was slow and peaceful, as all the shuttered gasps for air between sobs earlier were washing away in favor of calm, deep breaths.

 _“I’m here now,”_ he nimbly began to weave a section of her hair into a sloppy braid as he sang, leaning forward over her a little more. _“My sweetheart, you don’t have to fight anymore,”_

_“I’m here now, rest your eyes now, I’ll keep you warm,”_

_“My darling, sweet human, won’t you please find me in your dreams?”_

Belphegor’s emitting glow slowly went out as he finished the song, his shoulders shaking a little from the sheer drain of energy as the power buried itself deep within him once more. He finished off the small braid and let it fall to the rest of their hair splayed across the pillow behind their head, content with his work. The demon pulled the bed’s comforter up a little higher to cover Parker’s shoulder as well, tucking them in and leaning over before he even knew what he was doing.

He caught himself, but _barely_ , by perhaps a finger’s breadth hovering over their cheek before he realized what was happening. Belphegor screeched to a halt, so close that his exhale hit Parker’s tanned skin as his eyes went wide in panic. The demon absolutely REELED backwards and off the bed, leaping to his feet and wringing out his hands nervously as he watched to make sure he hadn’t disturbed them in his clumsy flee. He couldn’t _believe_ he almost _kissed their cheek goodnight_!! Without even thinking! Patting his sweaty palms on his sweatshirt, the seventh born inhaled heavily, contented enough to go run back to his own bedroom real quick to grab his D.D.D. to entertain himself, since he planned to spend the night in here making sure no nightmares undid his handiwork of finally lulling Parker off to dreamland. He even had his hand on the door already when they spoke, voice tired and groggy.

“Belphegor,” Parker mumbled, barely shifting as they didn’t even bother to open their eyes, just turn their face up towards the ceiling instead of facing the wall. “Thank you…”

The Avatar of Sloth pivoted on his heels immediately, startled and in horror, his hair practically sticking up like a frightened cat’s as he hissed back at the human. “You’re supposed to be asleep!! What the hell happened, how did you…!!”

Parker all but giggled at his surprise, stretching an arm out with a sleepy groan before tucking it back into their chest again. “Charms don’t… Work on me… Because of my lineage…”

Belphegor, if possible, would have erupted into flames and burned right up like a match on the spot. The blood rushing to his head in heated embarrassment was practically nauseating as he stomped back over to the bedside, and her lopsided dazed smile did _not_ help. He threw his hands about in the air, wildly gesticulating before they simply curled into flustered fists as he sputtered a bit before spitting out a whisper-yelled reply. “But-… And-… I-… A-And you didn’t stop me?! T-That’s so embarrassing…! Do you realize-!”

He was interrupted by a small human hand grabbing the front of his sweater and yanking on it, causing his upper half to fall forward towards the bed and him having to catch himself by putting a hand out onto the sheets. The next thing he knew, there was warm and soft skin pressed against his cheek, just briefly, followed by a whisper of “Thank you…” from her, and then it was over. She dropped back to the pillow with a smile, hardly peeking her eyes open before shoving at his chest to help him stand again and turning their back to him again to settle in for real this time.

It took Belphegor a solid 30 seconds before he even processed it: that son of a bitch had the balls to do what he couldn’t. He opened his mouth to gape, then snapped it shut again, a hand instinctively covering the fabric over his chest that they’d last touched as his ears practically seared right off. He clutched the front of the hoodie into a fist and squeezed his eyes shut in attempt to not let out a single peep from all the millions of emotions swirling inside of him and begging to be freed. God, that human absolutely infuriated him, but in the most stupidly endearing way. Belphegor bit the tip of his tongue perhaps a little harder than he should have while trying to keep it all within him, but every single part of his body burned, with the disaster’s epicenter on his left cheek. He collapsed without warning into a ball at the foot of Parker’s bed and buried his head deep into his hands, every point of contact like flames licking at his skin. He shook his head, but he was also _smiling_ , just a little. He was beyond embarrassed, he was mortified, but maybe, just maybe, that wasn’t the end of the world. And it made everything: the tea making, the wandering aimlessly through the house, the rare moments of honesty, carrying them back here, singing even when he didn’t need to… It was all a thousand times worth it.


End file.
